Shannon Briggs believes Tyson Fury is capable of avenging his defeat by Oleksandr Usyk however “he feels like” on Saturday evening.
The 36 year old Fury and Usyk again fight at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – seven months after Usyk threatened to stop him in the ninth round before earning a split decision to win the undisputed heavyweight title.
On Saturday they will contest the WBA, WBO and WBC titles, when Fury will also be fighting as a defeated fighter for the first time.
The nature of the entertaining first fight means that Usyk, 37, is even more widely expected to win again, and while the retired Briggs – who lost world-heavyweight title fights to Usyk’s fellow Ukrainian Vitali Klitschko and Fury’s fellow Briton Lennox Lewis – believes Usyk is the best conditioned heavyweight of all time, he can still see Fury winning.
“We’ve never seen Tyson Fury take a loss before, prior to his first fight with Usyk the man was undefeated,” said the 53 year old, speaking on behalf of Brownsville Boxing Gym and Academy. “So now, we don’t know what kind of Fury we’re gonna see on Saturday. But one thing’s for sure – Fury’s going up against one hell of a man.
“In the first fight, Fury was looking sharp early on, but that’s Usyk for you – he’s a machine! Usyk just doesn’t stop. Who could be in better shape than him? I don’t think there’s ever been another heavyweight in history that could be in better shape than Usyk.
“But this is a pick ’em fight. You can’t just say Usyk’s got this in the bag, you can’t count Fury out. Hell no! We don’t know which Fury we’re gonna get.
“The man can box, he can press forward, he can dance around that ring. Fury can do whatever he feels like to get the win. He can switch to southpaw, go orthodox – it doesn’t matter. Who else in history could do that? Nobody does it like Fury.”
A second defeat would end hopes of a third fight with Usyk, and potentially an overdue showdown with Anthony Joshua, but Briggs said: “If Tyson Fury loses on Saturday night, it’s no big deal as long as he doesn’t get hurt. He can take some time off, relax, and then come back stronger. That’s the business we’re in! Look at Mike Tyson – 58 years old, and he’s still stepping into the ring! Fury would be stupid to retire if he loses.
“These days, we’ve got doctors, recovery treatments, all kinds of advancements. If you’re not getting seriously hurt, why stop fighting? I’ll tell you this: if they came to Mike Tyson when he’s 68 years old and said, ‘Hey, we’ve got $200 million for you’, you better believe Mike’s grabbing a walking stick and stepping back into that ring!”
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